I posted this on the ep thread, but I'd love to discuss here, why Chase agreed to help Amber. I agree with you Ranee but would also like to add that I think the idea of getting one up on House appealing to Chase is what did the trick. At first he seemed a bit indifferent than annoyed at her attempted manipulation but when she put it to him in terms of scoring one off House, the way he smiled makes me think that appealed to him. Not in a mean way because he is angry and wants to hurt House so much as the never-ending game of one-up-man-ship House plays with everyone. Pulling one over on House would appeal to him for a number of reasons imo.

What really bothered me about that whole scene was that the Cutthroat Bitch had chase completely figured out from, like seriously, next to no interaction with him. Did that bother anyone else? I mean, I can understand her knowing that he wants to one-up-House and all that; but to completely predict his movements like that was really blatantly just... odd. Last episode, 'The Right Stuff' we saw that silent conversation between House and Chase while Chase is in observation and House is actually doing a surgery. There seemed to at least be an understanding there, as House told them to do what Chase had suggested. Perhaps House is keep Chase in his back pocket as a way of knowing that he has someone real to bounce ideas off of, should his new team prove unfruitful. Anyway, those are my musings on Chase.

Absolutely! She knows exactly how to manipulate not only Chase and Cameron but House too. And the rest of the would-be fellows seem to know more than seems plausible about House too. "We know he does blah blah blah so we should do thus and such..." They may have researched rumor about House himself (though it's more like they got their hands on a very complete personality and behavior profile) but for CTB to also completely have Cameron and Chases numbers too? Completely crap.

Yes & no, Anamatics (& when are we going to get some more Chase fic from you, btw?!) Cameron's an open book & IMO anyone with half a brain would have done their homework by talking to the staff about House's previous fellows & would have known exactly how to appeal to her. There wasn't any huge rocket science there. Amber clearly was out from the getgo to use everything she could & it made sense to me that she would dig as hard as she could to get the background info. With Chase IMO it was interesting that she didn't go to him first & it really was only when she had no other alternative (having been fired) & I thought she understood that Chase's motives weren't as clear cut but she was going to try anyway including the semi-flirting attempt (that Chase's motives are more interesting) despite her knowing that Chase was involved with Cameron and including every possible button, correct or not, re House. IMO Chase's true motives were a lot less clear, but he was along for the ride because he chose to, not because Amber presented him with a rationale that was completely convincing or even accurate about him (as she did with Cameron). So I didn't have a problem with it.

What really bothered me about that whole scene was that the Cutthroat Bitch had chase completely figured out from, like seriously, next to no interaction with him. Did that bother anyone else? Grr...don't get me started. This is what essentially bothers me about the new crew in general. I love that Chase saw through the CTB right away and JS's facial expression during his "Sorry. I don't work for him anymore, but he can still make my life miserable" reminded me how much livlier he seems compared to most of the new folks. ( Can you tell I want the new fellows arc to done and over with? I swear I didn't mind them so much last week, but now two eps in and I'm sick of them already.) I have to agree that I don't think Chase ran the labs to piss House off (though it may have been a bonus). I think he was probably mildly curious about the case and more than a bit curious as to why House fired CTB when she seemed exactly the type of person that House would approve of. I also think that curiousity is why he showed up to look in on House's surgery last week.

I don't understand why there should be a problem with the newcomers finding out various facts about House/ducklings. Does anyone doubt that House and his former employees were prime gossip material in PPTH? I suspect that any of the candidates can mine a rich lode of info anytime they want just by chatting with any of the nurses and doctors in the place.

I have no problem with that either. She is just informed and I don't think that was very hard to found someone who can provide this kind of information. There were just not enough Chase once again. His scenes were great but I can't wait/hope to see Chase and House 'alone'. Beside, is it me, or Chase seem to avoid any real contact with House. Yes, he was the one to show up last week but in every Chase/House season 4 scenes so far (that means 2 scenes... that's not a big sample) , Chase leave the room very far. As for his help to the blondy girl, I think he just do it to help the patient. He doesn't seem to care about the girl but find a way to keep track of House's case. He liked his job very much and was forced to quit... so he is maybe/probably still attracted to it. During the last three seasons, I think he was probably the only Duckling who was really enjoying the job.

I loved the fact that Chase called House out for yelling at him for doing the right thing! Chase’s first question was ‘Were the men wrong?’ and when House has to admit that the men’s team was right, Chase immediately asks, ‘Why are you yelling at me?’ Chase totally nailed the fact that House wasn’t yelling at him for correctly helping with the diagnosis (what could be wrong about that?). In fact, Chase figured out that House had another motive for seeking him out. House wasn’t really mad because Chase did something behind his back. He wasn’t mad because Chase helped one of the teams. House wasn’t really mad with Chase at all, merely frustrated and venting, as Chase said. Besides the fact that Chase let House know that he wasn’t going to stand there and take it (no longer House's whipping boy), he also diagnosed House’s motives. That had to kind of rock House’s world to be read so well. Chase rarely verbalizes House’s motivation. That’s usually Wilson’s job (with hit and miss accuracy), or Cameron’s (who isn’t as correct as often as she believes), and occasionally Cuddy’s. I also think that House was a bit stunned by the exchange, not only because of the backbone that Chase was showing, but because, in his world, those who usually try to untangle his motivation are usually doing it to teach House a lesson about himself. That wasn’t true in this case. Chase merely wanted House to stop yelling at him and treat him with respect.

I don't think we got any real clue what Chase's motivations were. CTP asked what they would do in a set of circumstances and he answered. It may have been something as simple as he thought the suggestion had merit and since House wasn't going to run the labs and CTP couldn't run the labs, he did it in the interest of the patient. I loved the exchange with House because, for me, it also clarified that Chase isn't angry. He told House that if he needed help, he was there. We see Chase is still willing to help House even if he's not willing to be yelled at and treated like the dog that gets kicked at the end of a bad day. I hope we'll see House utilizing this offer for help in the future. The near future. I'm SICK of these Newbies. I wish they'd all just go away already.

Maybe I just don't understand how hospital gossip works but I honestly don't see how people not on House's team beyond Cuddy or Wilson could possibly have that kind of insight into people's character unless they have the diagnositic rooms bugged and everybody listens in to the tapes in the break room. I can't see Cameron's and especially Chase's inner motivations as being common property of the hospital gossips to the degree that CTB knew. I find it plausible that everyone in the hospital would know things like that Cameron and Chase slept together and about PDH because that kind of thing does get around but, how their minds work, the key to manipulating them? I still don't buy.

I spent a significant number of years working in a university hospital, so I do. Amber's insights weren't that deep - with Cameron, for example, it would be completely common knowledge that she's the one who runs after Cuddy & Wilson whenever House is doing something that is possibly endangers a patient. For starters, both their assistants would know this intimately. Amber could get quite reasonable information simply by talking to Wilson's assistant (we know s/he can be bought with a cup of coffee from the Tritter arc when she spilled details of a police investigation). And that's always how hospital power structures work - you friend the assistant because they control information & access. With Chase it doesn't take much more info - the gosspip network's knowledge that House punched Chase & then fired him despite the good job he was doing coupled with Cuddy hiring him back would be all that was needed to make a decent guess that Chase might be amenable to doing something to get back at House. Really that's all that's needed, its very straightforward.

I find it plausible that everyone in the hospital would know things like that Cameron and Chase slept together and about PDH because that kind of thing does get around but, how their minds work, the key to manipulating them? I still don't buy. I'm completely with you on this! It's plain lazy writing (almost like bad fanfic: the writers know this, therefore EVERYONE at PPTH knows this!), plus even if there were some weird way that other hospital staff would know, why would they share such gossip with newbies not in their department? Furthermore, what frustrates me is that I feel this "inside knowledge" of House and his former ducklings defeats the whole purpose of the newbie arc (other than the silly Survivor scenarios.) In Season 1, Chase and Cameron already knew House for 6 months to a year, and Foreman was the "newbie" whose POV we were supposed to identify with. According to TPTB, this whole arc at the beginning of Season 4 was supposed to "reset the game": show us how shocking and different House is to less-jaded eyes--but the newbies came in seeming to know all about House and his techniques, and the major players aren't even close to being shocked by him--so Why Bother? All it does is deprive me of my beloved Chase and show me how surprisingly strongly I miss Cameron and Foreman as well.

why would they share such gossip with newbies not in their department? You'd be surprised! When I first started, the conversation was invariably "oh, you poor dear, you need to know....." And given the FJ punch, there would be plenty of warnings to anyone daft enough to want a job with House about what happened to the last bunch ("you poor dear, three people left the dept on the same day...."). IMo we'll just have to agree to disagree on this one :lol: show us how shocking and different House is to less-jaded eyes--but the newbies came in seeming to know all about House and his techniques, This might be better taken over to the newbies thread, but yes, they do to a certain degree (Kal Penn's character certainly doesn't fit this mould). But a bit chunk of it is they are simply older - there's no way I would buy either Scooter or Taub being shocked by House, they're old enough that they've been around the block to have seen stuff a lot worse.

Well, I think it's probably somewhere in between. Ranee's scenario makes sense with the details filled in. Actually, I can buy the word might be out on Cameron because she just exudes everything--I'd never trust her with a secret, for example. But I still think CTB knew too much about how Chase's mind works. But, the real kicker is the excellent point aenissesthai makes. Unless Cuddy and Wilson sat them down and gave them the low-down on House they should be just as clueless about House as Foreman was at the beginning of season one. But they are not trying to figure him out, they are trying to psyche him out. They would all have had to be reading The PPTH Times: Housewatch for the last three years to know so much about him. It doesn't add up.

Unless Cuddy and Wilson sat them down and gave them the low-down on House they should be just as clueless about House as Foreman was at the beginning of season one. I have this theory that that's exactly what's going to turn out to be the big reveal about 13. Topic? I don't think we got any real clue what Chase's motivations were. I tend to agree with this - Amber may have tried to push buttons with Chase, but its certainly not clear cut in that scene exactly why he decides to help her. I did find it funny that Chase thought Amber would be a good fit working with House. Chase rarely verbalizes House’s motivation. Until the last few eps of s3 & then he wouldn't shut up! He even less rarely verbalizes his own - we're much more likely to get oblique scenes like the confrontation with the brother in Mistake or praying with the nun which never give an explicit statement of what's going on in his head. Even the microwave pizza scene has its fair share of ambiguity about what's really going on in Chase's head (in addition to the obvious "sure, sex" thing).